Foot Locker Teams Up With A teams Of European Artists On Wearable Art Collection Collaboration

Foot Locker Europe’s ‘Wear More Art Spring 21’ campaign saw the sports shoe retailer work with Italian street artist Rediet Longo (known as RED) and British tattooist Jade Chanel to bring street art and tattoo culture to life by using iconic sneakers as a canvass.

The campaign was developed in collaboration with regular Foot Locker Europe creative agency AnalogFolk.

The pan-European initiative centred around the release of an exclusive collection of trainers and apparel (for men, women and kids) launched in two phases: in April the first wave is an homage to street art with a limited edition available online and in-store and the second tattoo range will roll out in May.

The two artists illustrate the campaign by creating a series of sneaker illustrations to accompany the ‘Wear More Art’ collection. The original art works and the supporting promotional imagery runs in-store and via an online campaign led by a hero social video.

RED’s artwork for the initiative was inspired by the Milanese urban world and he created a campaign centrepiece mural in Milan which aims to represent the unity of the city’s ethnically diverse youth. Plus, the Italian artist hosted a creative workshop in collaboration with charity ‘Paint the Change’ which invited Milanese kids to bring their thoughts, ideas and creative vision to the session.

“Combo sneakers and streets are part of my daily routine, ‘sneakers inspired by art’ and ‘art inspired by sneakers’ are my personal manifesto when deciding what to wear. I couldn’t be happier partnering with Foot Locker,” commented RED. “Comfort is key when it comes to sneakers and Foot Locker’s concepts of ‘WEAR MORE ART’ and ‘SAVE THE YOUTH’ are always has on my mind while creating collaborations and art projects.”

While London-based tattoo artist Chanel created a series of designs to support the tattoo-inspired side of the collection which also reflect her signature fine line floral and animal design tattoos. Chanel is, according to the campaign PR, part of a progressive wave in contemporary tattooing which promotes empowerment, compassion and inclusivity.

“For this project, I drew inspiration from my tattoo style. I’m known for my nature and floral elements which have lots of intricate, fine line detailing but I also use a technique called cross-hatching which helps keep my design transferable into a clean stencil, which is then applied to the skin<” commented Chanel. “This worked perfectly for this project as I had to display different textures for these iconic sneakers. I’m so proud to be working with Foot Locker on this project and can’t wait for people to see my art in May 2021.”

The collection is available to buy online on Footlocker EU store and in store across Europe and the limited edition original collection artwork aims to motivate Foot Locker customers to move fast to buy the unique versions of iconic silhouettes (which include Nike Tuned 3, adidas Hardcourt, Puma Cali Sport, Converse UNT1TL3D, Nike Tuned 1 and adidas Superstar).

“We’re very excited about the new Spring 21 collection. Season by season, we aim to collaborate with artists and creatives across Europe to give them a platform to express themselves and share their stories,” commented Foot Locker Europe Marketing VP Carmen Seman. “This spring, we wanted to celebrate creativity and decided to highlight our community’s passion for street and tattoo art with these special sneakers and apparel collections. The Spring collection turned pop culture into wearable art and is aimed at those who want to make a bold fashion statement. We hope this will inspire our community to get creative and share their voices through art.”